The International Organization for Migration (IOM) accepted Kuwait's membership request for the status of "observer". Kuwait's membership will be officially announced next November, IOM's Director General William Lacy Swing told reporters late Sunday, on the sidelines of a ceremony to honor Kuwaiti Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh at the UN House in Kuwait.

Swing congratulated the Kuwaiti leadership on achieving further development in the country, boost the role of the private sector and create different sources for income.

Meanwhile, Swing said IOM had increased the numbers of rescue missions in Bangladesh to ease the worsening humanitarian conditions suffered by the increasing numbers of Rohingya refugees.

As for Syrian refugees, Swing noted that IOM had recruited over 200 Syrians to work with NGOs and the Syrian government in aiding the refugees. The number of Syrian refugees exceeded one and a half million in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, he said, adding that IOM was able to provide 700,000 shelters in cooperation with these countries.